Sunday, June 20, 2010

On November 9, 2009 Cable News rivals Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity were in attendance at Yankee Stadium for Game 6 of the World Series. On March 15, 2010 Wyatt Cenac performed a sketch that used the analogy that American Punditry was like professional wrestling.

At the time of the sketch I speculated whether the analogy was simply drawn from the ether like it had been so many times. Or quite ambitiously, perhaps somehow this blog was in their orbit.

On November 19, 2009 Marc Maron hosted Comedian and Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac on his WTF podcast. Among other things they spoke about punditry, pro-wrestling and the interactions between Sean Hannity and Keith Olbermann at that baseball game.

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast: Episode 23 - Wyatt Cenac (starts at 39min mark)
WYATT CENAC: ... It gets frustrating... You can watch Hannity or Countdown. Then you can watch Hannity or Olbermann talk about each other or each other's networks. Or talk about how horrible the other side is. Yet then they can take photos of each other at a Yankees game like its no big deal.

MARC MARON: Like you said before, it really is all professional wrestling. The sad thing is, people are really struggling for a lot of different reasons... and they don't really know what to do with those frustrations. So when you've got these ideologues or these pundits... who are driving media culture leading them in a direction. They just want some temporary relief or some satisfaction and they are so easily misguided in times that are desperate...

Because like you said these guys are going to Yankee games together... having steaks and beers, laughing at the different sides they're on but are in the same business. But a great many people in the country just want some resolution or truth. Something that will bring them together that isn't based in some kind of choosing sides.

WYATT CENAC: Maybe in some ways we need pro-wrestling to step up...

The discussion is quite incisive and expansive moving on to speculation that Keith Olbermann and Sean Hannity should take a page from the Iron Sheik and Hulk Hogan. The conversation degenerates into absurd imaginings of an Annual "Pundit Cage match to the death". Its worth noting that the act of preserving the illusion that wrestling is real is called 'kayfabe'.

MARC MARON: ...We've rendered down [hatred in America] to a problem with professional wrestling. But sadly there's always going to be the crazy caller type of person who still will not be able to deal with the fact that the Iron Sheik and Hulk Hogan will have lunch together
WYATT CENAC: And that's when we need to do a better job with our professional wrestlers. When the cameras are off they still can't interact...

... with the amount of hatred and anger that they seem to have for each other... the way you guys [Sean and Keith] talk about each other I expected that you guys would have just picked up bats and started going at each other
MARC MARON: Own it! Stay in it. Stay in character. Maybe if we had Olbermann and Hannity dress up as professional wrestlers...

Read Keith Olbermann's original posting on his Sean Hannity encounter at the World Series below:

America's Biggest Small Town
And lastly, a reminder that baseball does erase boundaries. The guy [Sean Hannity] I'm taking a photo of, who's taking a photo of me [Keith Olbermann] - we get along perfectly at the ballpark - less so during our day jobs.

About the Author

Hello my name is Jim, I'm a graphic designer by day and APF commissioner by night. I've always been a fan of analogies, this is just my most ambitious. A whole blog proving that Politics and wrestling are one and the same.
If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion to the APF
Email me at pundit.fight[at]gmail.com
Alternatively if you'd like to commission some editorial illustration work.
Email me at pundit.fight[at]gmail.com